Message from the Chairman
To our present and future Customers, Employees and Suppliers:
Our Mission: On Time with Quality - No Excuses.
Cal Box Group believes the California market is leveling out due to excess plant capacities. At present and in the near future the selling of corrugated boxes is generally a "zero sum game". One plant's gain is another plant's loss.
Being a low cost producer, our service and quality will allow our customers to remain competitive. We realize that a percentage of corrugated business, especially mid- size orders, and price is sold and bought on a supplier/client relationship. Loyalty will be forgotten by many. Because there is great competition, we advise our customers in these times to be careful in placing orders direct. Sales, suppliers computers will later remember every order you place, especially when used by their hungry salespeople at your expense!
As we stated in the past, our mission has been, and remains to be, the most successful West Coast Box plants in the business. We will provide fast, most reliable service and quality, selling only to brokers, jobbers, distributors and other box plants. We have no sales force in California, so our strategies for being the best in our niche market are crucial.
Our FIVE CORPORATE STRATEGIES to accomplish this objective:
- Our FIRST STRATEGY is to spend more time on training and to hire and develop the best talent…CB Group's success is the result of the consistently empowering our people. We are determined to live up to our existing standards and to improve on others. It has been said that the trouble with success is that you have to keep it up.
- The SECOND STRATEGY is to protect and build our market niche. After our people, our reputation for quick, reliable service and delivery is a valuable asset the customer will receive. To that end, from 1994 to 2007, we invested over $35 million. This includes 2 new corrugators,2 new facilities of 300,000 sq.ft and lots of new converting machinery.
- Our THIRD STRATEGY is to develop a mutually profitable business relationship with our customers and suppliers through single sourcing and strategic alliances.
We recognize that increased volume does not necessarily mean more profit, it might just bring more overhead. Therefore, the purpose of our relationship is to become better, not bigger.
Though our plants are individual profit centers, they do cooperate with each other. Why? To satisfy our customers. How? By meeting their requirements and our commitment.
Our service reputation for doing the impossible for our customers must be encouraged. More capacity. We installed two specialty folder gluers, the largest of their kind on the West Coast. The 150" folder/gluer allows us to run folding carton designed style boxes but in corrugated. Die cut type boxes that normally jam up a flexo folder/gluer can now run up to 18,000 pieces per hour — nearly 10 times faster than a taper/gluer used by most sheet plants. It increases efficiency. - Our FOURTH STRATEGY is to maximize productivity throughout the entire CB Group. These savings will be passed to our customers so that both of us will be more competitive. The purchasing power from the new plant efficiencies should give customers some very competitive prices not possible a few years ago.
- Our FIFTH AND FINAL STRATEGY is to practice quality management in every aspect of our operations and make it an integral part of our corporate culture. For example, all purchases (which total about 70% of sales) will be reviewed as to quality, service and price. There will be audits on all purchases received to insure a commitment to quality in all that we do in our organization.
CB Group is ISO 9001-2008 certified. All the lean improvements and housekeeping emphasize to us a commitment to quality in everything we do. The quality of printing today is very impressive. Our reject rate of custom orders is less than 1/4% of all sales.